Getting an inexpensive computer for portable internet access

In My Humble Opinion
1

There have been several times I have been visiting a city and wished I had internet access to look something up, but didn’t. Generally if you want to use a library computers you have to have a card for that city, so that is out. Plus finding a public library isn’t always easy. However finding wifi hotspots is generally not that hard.

For a variety of reasons I don’t want to take my laptop with me every time I leave the house and don’t want to constantly use my home laptop on a wide range of public wifi spots, so I am looking for devices that’d let me access the internet at wifi hotspots that costs $150 or less. I figure I can leave it in my car and if I am in a city and need to look something up, I can find a wifi spot and do that.
So I figure my options are

Get a used laptop or netbook on craigslist
Buy a google Android
Get an MP3 player with wifi
Get a 3G or 4G cell phone

I’m not getting a new cell phone, because I barely use my current cell phone. I have a prepaid that I pay $7 a month for, and don’t want to spend $50/month on a phone I’d barely use more than the $7 one.

An MP3 player like an Ipod Touch would be more portable and fit in my pocket, but generally if I am somewhere where I do not have access to the internet to look something up, my car is nearby. So something I can store in the car would be fine.

Used laptops and netbooks can be had on craigslist. However while looking this info up I found out about the Google Android 7" tablet

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003K2TIXK/?tag=zky007-20

However there aren’t many reviews. I’m not sure if it is a low quality device, or if it is a cheap version of the ipad. A lot of them on ebay seem to ship out of hong kong, and I have had bad experience with Chinese & Hong Kong electronics.

So I am figuring either a used netbook, used laptop or new google Android.

I’d probably want/need 2-3 hours battery life minimum.

Does anyone have experience with the google android? Are netbooks any more portable than full size laptops? Is wifi on an mp3 player any good?

2

I, personally, would go for an iPod touch, if you can find a good used one in your price range and are either familiar with iTunes or willing to learn (it isn’t hard).

They can do so much more than access the internet. I use mine for all sorts of stuff - jotting down notes in the note app for my next trip to the store, checking email and weather updates, playing games while waiting in line somewhere or at the doctor’s office, keeping tabs on appointments, and of course listening to music. You can bookmark Google, Bing or any other cites for quick and easy access when you need to look something up. It’s instant on anytime from sleep mode with the push of a button and battery life is excellent. You could still keep it in your car but you’d also have the option of keeping it in a pocket on those occasions when you might want to.

Unless you are wanting a larger screen or manual keyboard I would be hard pressed to think of why a small computer would be preferable for what you want to an iPod touch.

3

You can get a refurbished iPod Touch for $149 (plus taxes) with free shipping for a limited time.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/34018/refurbished-ipods-ipod-nano-8gb-5th-gen-99-ipod-touch-8gb-current-gen-149

In my view the iPhone/iPod Touch offers the best mobile browser experience.

4

If simply “looking things up” is the goal and you can make do with a basic web browser, I’d be pretty tempted to spend an extra hundred and get an Amazon Kindle, to take advantage of the free 3G service.

5

Getting a used kindle, like said above, seems like it’d be within your price range. You can get used ones from $99 and up, iirc. Especially of you look around a bit.

I really recommend, though, if you’re okay with the smaller screen, getting the iPod touch. You end up becoming dependent on them, they’re great.

If you’re using a prepaid phone service, is it GSM or CDMA? If you don’t know, who is your provider? I can look up whether the provider is GSM or CDMA. Older iPhones, if you’re on GSM, can be had pretty cheap (out of contract, used 2 and 3 G’s). Especially if you wait until June, when apple will be coming out with their 4G. I only recommend this, because you can turn off data services (starting in June), and you won’t have to carry another facet around with you. Alternatively, you can see howuch adding data to your current prepay plan is (sometimes as low as 15/mo).

6

Could you be a little more specific about what you want to do? I did some research on the subject recently, and even the PSP is capable of wireless Internet access, however, I would not recommend trying to read anything on it. The iTouch is a good choice, but I would not recommend typing on it. It’s also extremely annoying to read web pages that are not designed for mobile use. Also, are you able to get hotspots when you need them where you need them? If not, how much are you willing to spend for a service?

My personal choice for “Internet anywhere” is a netbook with a $20 modem service from my cell phone (~$300, with an additional $20/month). All cell companies offer this service, but don’t really advertise it. It works at about modem speeds, usually with no upload/download limits. This, according to my research, would be the best choice for my purpose, which was keeping track of Sunday NFL scores remotely.

7

I have a nokia 1100 via tracfone, so I assume GSM.

My goal with the internet is in instances where I am in a city and want to look up info online for things like where to eat, what to do, attractions to see, check classifieds in the city, etc I want browsing capabilities to do that. I think that is my main goal.

My impression is hotel lobbies, airports, some food and coffee places, book stores, etc. all offer free wifi. So I can use the GPS to find one, then get online.

8

Tons of stores have free wifi. I normally need it when I’m in a city of 50k+ and need to look up info, so finding a store with wifi wouldn’t be problem. So I don’t think I need a 3G subscription, just a device that was wifi compatible. Finding a McDonalds is always easy.

9

Not to belabor the point but iPod touches come with a browser. It’s called Safari and I’m using it to post from my iPod touch right now.

10

I have an Android device (HTC Magic) and it is really good - I’m currently using Opera Mini until Fennec (mobile Firefox) comes out. I love it for internet on the go. No Apple lock-in, and a ton of apps to choose from.

Otherwise, a second-hand netbook with Ubuntu on it.

Si

11

I bought a cheap net book from Walmart for $225 at the store. They were on a shelf but the price wasn’t marked.

Here’s one for $250 on line.

It’s small enough to travel with a decent size screen. No CD reader but it has convenient USB and card reader ports for transferring photos and video while vacationing.
On edit I see I blew right past your $150 price cap. sorry

12

The $150 isn’t set in stone, plus I can always find used netbooks on craigslist if I decide to go with that. However I think I’m going to use an Ipod touch.

13

We went with a netbook last year, for just this kind of use.
There were a couple of bonuses over something like a Touch.

  1. Full keyboard - you can actually write an email on it.
  2. download pictures from a digital camera - We find that on longer trips, we often take more pictures than our camera can store. With the netbook, we can download the pictures off of the camera and store them.
  3. 9" screen

Downside - The size, if you want to actually carry it with out. Although 2.5lb isn’t bad.

14

I’m doing pretty okay with my Touch. I jailbroke it, picked up wififofum and now I can detect open access points from a couple hundred feet away.

It works pretty well.

15

Does it auto connect? Because that would be awesome.

16

A netbook isn’t the sort of thing you can carry in your pocket, but I find that I don’t even notice mine when I’m carrying it in my knapsack.

17

My wife has one, but the battery is a huge issue (depending on your uses, again.)

She can only do like 3-4 hours of video, maybe 5-6 hours of music. The advertised 8 hours of battery life is only if it’s doing nothing, probably with the screen off as well.

18

The OP isn’t looking for heavy-duty, battery-draining video usage. He just wants to be able to look stuff up on the fly while out in his car. And besides, charging is easy. Just plug it in at night, it’ll stop charging when full and you can take it with you the next morning. I use mine quite a bit while out and about and only have to charge it every three days or so.

19

I don’t know what your wife does with her iPod, but iTouches in my neck if the woods have significantly better battery life than that. My iPhone uses 1%/hour when in standby mode, and the iTouches I’ve seen use less than that.

20

Go with the iPod Touch or a netbook. The Touch will probably have apps that let you look stuff up (especially touristy stuff) so you wouldn’t necessary need to use the web browser and the teeny keyboard.

A netbook works, too, but unless you get a model with some sort of quick-booting alternate operating system, you’ll have to wait for Windows/Linux to boot every time you want to look something up. That gets to be a hassle really quick.

Don’t get a Kindle because the web browsing experience sucks hardcore.

Don’t get a cheap Chinese Android tablet. Android works, but if you want it, wait for one of the more reputable manufacturers to make one (or even an official Google one, perhaps) or you’ll probably end up getting burned – UI design, updates, etc. are generally ignored by those cheap knockoffs. Or pick up an iPad right now if the $150 can go up to $500.

Keep in mind that you can install Android yourself on your netbook if that’s what you want.

Other options:

-“Mobile Internet Devices”, basically things that are halfway between a cellphone and an iPad in size. Never been impressed by one, but you could consider them.

-Using Google SMS: Send a text message from any cell phone to “466453” (GOOGLE) with something like “pizza in new york, ca” or “movies 90210” and it’ll text you back a list of results.

-If you don’t like texting, you can also call Google 411 (no charge aside from airtime) and get a similar list of results.